AvaStars Review and Giveaway

Have you heard of AvaStars? I hadn’t until recently. We were invited to try out the AvaStars experience and I have to admit – I was really curious!

AvaStars recently opened a location in Oak Brook. They offer an entertainment experience as well as personalized dolls.

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but the kids were really excited. We arrived at AvaStars, or “AvaStarShip”, and were greeted by the employees. They ushered us over the the kiosk where one of them helped each of the kids name their AvaStar (Dexter used his own name, but Cooper chose “Max-Ernest”, a character from a book he’s reading), and choose what type of hero they wanted, skin tone, eye color, and hair color.

Then it was off to the camera. They needed a couple pictures for each child, one smiling and one not.

Once the photos were done it was just a few minutes wait until the boys’ AvaStars videos were ready. They had a life-size vertical screen and a LOUD stereo system so the boys and the other people in the store could watch the short videos. It was pretty funny seeing Cooper and Dexter’s faces on the movie characters! The boys couldn’t stop giggling.

I received an email within a couple days with the videos so we could watch them again and share them with friends and family. Then there was the long wait for the boys’ dolls (It wasn’t really that long – only a couple weeks, but they were excited so I know it seemed longer!), but they finally arrived.

Dexter chose the Firefighter, and Cooper chose the Special Forces figure. Here are their dolls:

What do you think? Do they look like them?

The AvaStars dolls come with a display stand. The clothes are removable and the arms and legs are poseable, but they really probably are better for display purposes than playing. I let the boys play with theirs, but within a day or so we had a slight injury – the forehead area on Cooper’s doll cracked. (I’m not sure how it happened; of course, no one knows!)

The AvaStars VIP experience (video plus doll) is $40 for a limited time.

Update:

I have an update on our AvaStars experience. The boys apparently weren’t gentle enough with the dolls we received and Cooper’s doll was unfortunately damage (as you can see in the photo above. We received an unexpected package in the mail that made Cooper smile – a replacement doll! Thanks so much AvaStars!

You can have a chance to try out the AvaStars VIP experience (video plus doll) because I have 2 AvaStars VIP StarPasses to give away!

PLEASE NOTE: These passes are only valid until February 15, 2015! Please enter only if you know you can visit AvaStars (located in Oak Brook mall) before February 15.